Northampton land cover change 2001-2019
Introduction
This report uses data from the National Land Coverage Database (NLCD) to summarize land cover changes in Northampton, Mass. from 2001 to 2019.
NLCD data was obtained from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. An interactive viewer for the underlying data is available here.
The NLCD provides data on land cover and land cover change at 30 meter resolution. Each 30m square is classified into one of 16 land coverage categories. Data releases every three years, from 2001 to 2019, allow monitoring land cover changes at the resolution of the data.
For this report, the sixteen land cover categories in the NLCD were consolidated to six classes. See the land cover table below for details.
Land cover in Northampton
These tables and charts show land cover change for the City as a whole.
Land cover totals
The first table shows land cover for the City in acres and as a percent of total area, and the change in acreage from 2001 to 2019. The “Percent change” column is the change in acreage as a percent of acreage, not the change in percent of total acres.
Northampton is nearly half forested land and more than one quarter developed land. The changes is forested and developed land are relatively small compared to the total number of acres.
| Land Cover Acres in Northampton, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2019 | Change | Percent Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acres | Percent | Acres | Percent | Acres | ||
| Forest | 10,853 | 47% | 10,672 | 47% | -181 | -2% |
| Developed | 5,966 | 26% | 6,174 | 27% | 208 | 3% |
| Water/Wetland | 3,437 | 15% | 3,424 | 15% | -13 | 0% |
| Cultivated | 2,496 | 11% | 2,437 | 11% | -59 | -2% |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 81 | 0% | 136 | 1% | 55 | 68% |
| Other | 49 | 0% | 38 | 0% | -11 | -22% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
Land cover change
This chart shows land cover change in acres since 2001.
- Developed land has increased by 208 acres.
- Forested land has decreased by 181 acres.
- There has been a loss of cultivated land and an increase in herbaceous and shrub land.
The chart above gives the impression that forest land has been developed and cultivated land has gone to herbaceous and shrub. The actual situation is not that simple.
The sankey diagram below gives a more nuanced view, showing the “from” and “to” flow of land cover change. It shows that some loss of forest land is due to development, but some forest land has also changed to herbaceous/shrub. Most of the lost cultivated land has been developed but small amounts changed to forest and herbaceous/shrub.
This table shows the numbers underlying the right side of the sankey diagram above. For acres that changed classification from 2001 to 2019, it shows the number of acres for each new classification.
| Land cover change in Northampton, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2019 category | ||||||
| 2001 Category | 2019 Category | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developed | Herbaceous/Shrub | Forest | Cultivated | Water/Wetland | Other | |
| Forest | 137 | 62 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Cultivated | 54 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 5 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Water/Wetland | 4 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
The map below show where the land cover classification changed from forest in 2001 to something other than forest in 2019. The changed areas are colored to show the 2019 classification.
Land cover by zoning category
These tabs show land cover change within zoning categories. The categories aggregate the City zoning districts.
The maps show the zoning districts in grey and the areas of lost forest cover in red.
Rural zones include zoning districts FFR, RR and SC.
| Land Cover Acres in Rural zones, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2019 | Change | Percent Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acres | Percent | Acres | Percent | Acres | ||
| Forest | 6,311 | 50% | 6,266 | 49% | -45 | -1% |
| Water/Wetland | 2,977 | 23% | 2,967 | 23% | -10 | 0% |
| Cultivated | 1,987 | 16% | 1,945 | 15% | -42 | -2% |
| Developed | 1,349 | 11% | 1,412 | 11% | 63 | 5% |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 47 | 0% | 82 | 1% | 35 | 74% |
| Other | 11 | 0% | 10 | 0% | -1 | -9% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
| Land cover change in Rural zones, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2019 category | ||||||
| 2001 Category | 2019 Category | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developed | Herbaceous/Shrub | Forest | Cultivated | Water/Wetland | Other | |
| Cultivated | 41 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Forest | 26 | 34 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Water/Wetland | 1 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
Suburban residential includes zoning districts SR and WSP.
| Land Cover Acres in Suburban/Water supply zones, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2019 | Change | Percent Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acres | Percent | Acres | Percent | Acres | ||
| Forest | 4,056 | 63% | 3,962 | 62% | -94 | -2% |
| Developed | 1,520 | 24% | 1,609 | 25% | 89 | 6% |
| Cultivated | 437 | 7% | 425 | 7% | -12 | -3% |
| Water/Wetland | 370 | 6% | 370 | 6% | 0 | 0% |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 29 | 0% | 51 | 1% | 22 | 76% |
| Other | 22 | 0% | 15 | 0% | -7 | -32% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
| Land cover change in Suburban/Water supply zones, 2001-2019 | |||||
| Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2019 category | |||||
| 2001 Category | 2019 Category | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developed | Herbaceous/Shrub | Forest | Cultivated | Water/Wetland | |
| Forest | 80 | 30 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Cultivated | 8 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Other | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Water/Wetland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | |||||
Urban residential includes zoning districts URA, URB and URC.
| Land Cover Acres in Urban zones, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2019 | Change | Percent Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acres | Percent | Acres | Percent | Acres | ||
| Developed | 2,207 | 85% | 2,222 | 85% | 15 | 1% |
| Forest | 290 | 11% | 274 | 11% | -16 | -6% |
| Water/Wetland | 51 | 2% | 51 | 2% | 0 | 0% |
| Cultivated | 49 | 2% | 49 | 2% | 0 | 0% |
| Other | 4 | 0% | 5 | 0% | 1 | 25% |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 1 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
| Land cover change in Urban zones, 2001-2019 | |||
| Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2019 category | |||
| 2001 Category | 2019 Category | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Developed | Other | Herbaceous/Shrub | |
| Forest | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| Cultivated | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | |||
Business/industrial includes zoning districts GB, GI, HB, M, NB, OI and PV.
| Land Cover Acres in Business/industrial zones, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2019 | Change | Percent Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acres | Percent | Acres | Percent | Acres | ||
| Developed | 646 | 70% | 687 | 75% | 41 | 6% |
| Forest | 193 | 21% | 169 | 18% | -24 | -12% |
| Water/Wetland | 41 | 4% | 38 | 4% | -3 | -7% |
| Cultivated | 22 | 2% | 17 | 2% | -5 | -23% |
| Other | 13 | 1% | 8 | 1% | -5 | -38% |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 3 | 0% | 1 | 0% | -2 | -67% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
| Land cover change in Business/industrial zones, 2001-2019 | |
| Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2019 category | |
| 2001 Category | 2019 Category |
|---|---|
| Developed | |
| Forest | 25 |
| Cultivated | 5 |
| Other | 5 |
| Water/Wetland | 3 |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 3 |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | |
Central business zones include zoning districts CBc, CBg, CBs, FVc and FVg.
These zones consist entirely of developed land; there is no change between 2001 and 2019.
Land cover classes
For this report, the sixteen land cover categories in the NLCD were consolidated to six classes. This table shows the land cover categories in the NLCD and the consolidated classes to which they have been assigned. Detailed descriptions of the NLCD categories are available here.
| Reporting classes for NLCD categories | |
| NLCD category | |
|---|---|
| Developed | Developed, Open Space |
| Developed, Low Intensity | |
| Developed, Medium Intensity | |
| Developed, High Intensity | |
| Forest | Deciduous Forest |
| Evergreen Forest | |
| Mixed Forest | |
| Cultivated | Hay/Pasture |
| Cultivated Crops | |
| Water/Wetland | Open Water |
| Woody Wetlands | |
| Emergent Herbaceuous Wetlands | |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | Shrub/Scrub |
| Herbaceuous | |
| Other | Unclassified |
| Perennial Snow/Ice | |
| Barren Land | |
Zoning map
This map shows the Northampton zoning categories as aggregated for this report.
Copyright 2023 Kent S Johnson 
2023-04-05